Transcription:
One of the things that we do for clients when we first onboard them is we picked up this term called digital plumbing from Dennis Hugh. Fantastic person. If you want to follow him on social media, he’s like an SEO guru. But digital plumbing is showing how all the pipes are connected to your business and then how all that weighs in on the authority you have period across the internet,
welcome back to another episode of digital marketing shop talk. I am here with my good friend, Jeremy Mullins, and my name is Mike Mahaffey. And for those of you who don’t know, we’ve created this podcast. To really, to talk about marketing, to talk about things that are going on in the marketing world to really help home service businesses.
Our goal is to build a community around this podcast, to continue to learn from one another and help each other out. And Jeremy, I’m just happy to be here with you today. You too, man. It’s I like, this podcast. It actually gives me something to look forward to every week, so I appreciate you being on the call with me, man.
Yeah, no I, love doing this and it’s just a great way for us to pick each other’s brains and while we’re picking, while we’re picking our brains people who are watching can learn from it. Hopefully we like hope, but a few episodes back Jeremy, if you remember, we actually created a list together, a priority list for, home service business owners when it comes to marketing tasks.
So one of the first ones we talked about was building a website. So we have. Our marketing efforts pointed to somewhere that we talked about a Google business profile setting up Google gears, guaranteed account. Last time we talked about email campaigns and the important of email campaigns. And now we’re getting into the fun side of marketing.
Not that any of that is it fun of, and this is where we get to be a little bit more creative and this is where we get to interact more and more. With our audience and that really comes down to content creation. And what I say before I kind of dive in, I want to define what I mean by content creation.
Really I don’t, simply, you can think just social media, but really it goes across, across the board. Just any content that you’re putting out there for viewers to see, for Google’s to see, to help you rank. It’s simply put super broad, but we’re going to talk about some strategies. We’re going to talk about some things we like to do, some things that maybe we’ve seen that we think a lot of home service business owners could really get into.
But Jeremy, I know we could talk about blogging. We could talk about social media posts. We could talk about video. I guess kind of one of the things I wanted to ask you is. Where, do you start? Where does a home business owner start? Because this is such a large umbrella where would you suggest that a home business owner shouldn’t start when it comes to content creation?
A loaded question. I love it. My opinion, and it’s always been my opinion is the number one thing we have to lead with is value. And I’m going to add like a big period at the end of that. So value period now what value you bring to your clients can vary depending on obviously what you do and how you communicate that with your clients can obviously vary on the services you provide.
They can be done in a funny way, be done in a serious way. But it all is going to boil down to that, big word value. So Mike, what do you think? I definitely agree. You’re not just putting out content for people to miss. Like you want to be able to put out content that people need and want to hear.
If you’re just putting out stuff for the sake of putting out stuff, then people are just going to be skipping past it. And if people are skipping past it and not interacting with. With what you’re putting out there then you’re not going to be favored by, social media algorithms like Facebook.
They’re not going to be putting out your posts extra or Google. If you’re using a blog post you’re, they’re not going to help favor you in your Google rankings. So you need to be able to provide value. Just like Jeremy was saying, so people can get a piece and understand that. I guess my thing is, I would always just say it can be very scary when it comes to content creation, especially for people that might not like doing it.
Maybe, they’re a little more introverted or whatnot, but I think it really just starts with starting. You need a starting point just because this is a vast umbrella of things that you can get into. Just start with something, pick. Pick an avenue. I would start with blog posts so you can continue to build out your, website and as Jeremy said, write articles that are adding value using frequently asked questions.
I know that’s a huge thing answering questions before people can ask them. So if people, if you’re getting a lot of questions from your customers. That is a great starting point as well, because if a lot of your clients or customers are asking you a certain question, that means others are as well. So write a blog about that frequently asked question.
Create a social media graphic or post about that social media. Maybe take your phone and make a selfie video to post on social media as well, talking about that. Do all three. It doesn’t hurt if you use all three. And answering the same question because someone who might find your blog post might not be following you on, Facebook.
So you’re going to get, you’re going to hit different audiences depending on what platform you use. So don’t, be afraid to use the same topic or same issue about in different, formats in different ways. But I know Jeremy you like to preach a lot about this frequently asked questions.
What do you have to add to maybe using Frequently Asked Questions to leverage your content? Yeah the questions that you get all the time I’m going to, I’m going to paint a scenario for you. What if you’re on social media and you’ve been tagged in a post as a home service provider for a question that you hear all the time and they’re looking for recommendations to solve that problem.
So a lot of times that’s how people get business off of Facebook is. Do they make a post? Somebody tags you in a comment cause you like did a really good service for them. How impactful would it be for you to, maybe one, have a blog post written about that question. Are you right now? Two, maybe it’s a video that you already have on your YouTube channel and that’s there to, answer that question.
Or even three, what would happen if you actually recorded a video and actually posted it on that question directly? So you actually put that person’s name in there. And it shows that you’re not shy about answering that question and having the whole world to see, and that boils down to the content that you provide and how valuable it is.
And as, as you said, once you get that question once, there’s a really good chance you can get it multiple times for that service that you provide. Might as well just be on top of it, in my opinion. Yeah, exactly. We’re talking, our podcast is directed and we’re trying to build a community of home service business owners.
And that’s the, that’s our audience. That’s who we want to talk to and relate to here. So they’ve spent their whole lives how to be a plumber, becoming an expert roofer, becoming an expert contractor and all that. So they’re most likely we’re talking about a community of people that might not be the most comfortable with sitting down and making a graphic to post maybe not the best writers to sit down and write a blog post.
I guess for you, what would you say to those people that might be? Maybe a little timid or might want to try to stay away from this just because it’s not in their comfort zone. I’m going to state this, the treasure you seek is in the cave. You don’t want to enter. Everybody’s a salesman. I truly believe that everybody’s a salesman.
If you’re married or ever been on a date, you’re a salesman, that that’s my philosophy. And if you can take the perspective that you’re dating your clients and you’re able to explain what you do and, a nice and friendly manner, it doesn’t matter if it’s perfect.
Honestly, they’re going to like you for you and they’re wanting to do business because of you. So I would, flip the switch and actually ask them you don’t want to do this, but what does it cost you not to do this? Because I guarantee you that there’s businesses out there that are going to do it.
And they’re going to do it on a very frequent basis if you’re not doing that. And a lot of times it’s free, Mike that that’s the issue, right? It’s, you don’t have to pay a marketing company like us to create this content. You can actually be out there doing it yourself.
Probably with the phone you have in your pocket that you’re running most of your business off of. So what’s it costing you not to do it? That’d be my question. And if you’ve ever been on a date before, I think you know how to flirt with somebody. Now, not to say that you have to be creepy, but you have to be able to sell yourself on a certain basis.
If it’s not you, hire the right person that can do it for you. So hire a marketing company or, something like that. They could actually. Start posting that content for you. Yeah, most definitely. And I, want to, you said something that you took right out of my mouth, but it’s just if you are, a business owner and you’re afraid you’re afraid to start creating graphics, start writing stuff, just start with taking pictures of your jobs, use your phone.
And every, everybody has a phone now and they just start taking pictures of your jobs, start with before and afters to take, progress pictures of your team members working on what’s going on. You love, what you do because you love a finished product and the clients that you work for, the homeowners, the business owners that you do these jobs for love what you do as well, because you’re giving them something something to admire when you’re done.
And so the people online, they want to see that too. They want to see that too. So just start with that, take out your phone on jobs, start taking more pictures. You can, that’s just consistent content that you can be putting out that will get engagement because people love seeing those satisfying things.
Click record, see, take show videos of you for starting halfway through and then the finished product because one of the most viral things that you can do right now for video. Is that satis, those satisfying videos of seeing things worked through, seeing things get done seeing things from when they’re in a rough spot to looking brand new or completely fixed up and whatnot.
So don’t be afraid to use that phone in your hand, just like Jeremy was saying, cause that’s, that would just be a great starting point to, hopefully get you uncomfortable. And then I would. So just down the road to flip the camera and get yourself involved, but we can work there.
We can work there. There’s a starting point. But Jeremy why would you think, what would you think the importance of maybe starting to flip the camera and actually add value through talking, maybe talking videos, talking head videos, like we see a lot on, Facebook right now, or tick tock in India.
I think it’s important to be seen as the professional. The knowledgeable professional period, if you know what, if you know how electricity works and your clients don’t educate them, if you know how plumbing works and your clients don’t educate them, you’re not giving your services away, you’re educating your clients on making the right decision to hire you.
And adding to what you were saying, like people like those satisfying videos and as bad as a sound, they also like train wrecks. Meaning, here’s an example. I follow this foundational repair guy on social media and he takes pictures almost daily on nightmarish scenarios that he sees.
The house is, I don’t know how are standing and he explains each and every time each, every time he sends out a picture to the internet, what is going on, why it’s bad and maybe even how they can come to a solution to, to fix the problem if there is one. And it’s important. Every house, every building has to have a solid foundation and the stuff that he posts, it’s Oh my gosh, like how has that house even standing?
And it’s a nightmare because you get this like anxiety, but at the same time he comforts you saying this isn’t as costly as a repair as it usually think it might be. They can do this, and this to conduct a code. Don’t be afraid to take pictures of those scenarios where it would scare a homeowner to calling you if they see that same issue with their pipes or with electricity.
Because you’re the adamant professional. When you flip it and they actually can see your face, they can hear your voice. It starts to put a name and face recognition to the services you provide. And that’s really important for bandwidth in their minds, right? Brand awareness. Mike, if I say tennis shoe, what’s the first brand that pops to your head?
Nike. It’s because you’ve been imprinted with their quality tennis shoe. They have amazing products. People are talking about them on the social atmosphere. There’s no reason why a plumber or electrician can’t fill that same void for those same words. If I say plumber, who do you think of? If I say electrician, who do you think of?
So it’s important. Yeah, you’re doing a lot of things just like you said, by posting videos and stuff and interacting with your audience, like that you’re building that trust. People see that you are an expert in the field and they’re more likely to come to you during that time. You’re, so you’re building that trust.
You’re allowing an avenue to make people feel more comfortable. And what I mean by that is, let’s say they’re in a situation where they’re home, they have a rough roof and they’re getting embarrassed by it, but they don’t really want to talk about it. They don’t really want to reach out to people by it.
If you’re posting videos of, other people in, similar shoes, you’re going to make that homeowner more comfortable and feel more ready to come and reach out and do work. And then also you’re making more, more comfortable with like prices and stuff. Like maybe they’re just petrified of how much.
Roof or new roof or their toilets backed up or something. Maybe they’re just petrified about the price. Maybe you can through these videos, comfort them and let them know, like maybe it’s not as much as they are, or maybe you offer payment options or maybe you work with insurance companies who knows all these different avenues.
Because as soon as you start a conversation, you’re allowing it to be out in the air, out in the light and make homeowners feel more comfortable. And ready to work and because you’re being the source of those videos, they’re gonna, they’re gonna take that next step and work with you for sure. It’s, there’s many different facets to why you should be, why you should be posting content out there.
Jeremy, I guess you’re an SEO expert, so I always have to ask you this, basically in every conversation does the videos, does… The content, the texts that I’m putting out onto Facebook, out to LinkedIn, out to Twitter. Are they, does that even help Google? Does that help Google rankings?
Does that have any SEO effect whatsoever? 100%. One of the things that we do, backtracking, 100%, Mike, because it’s all connected. One of the things that we do for clients when we first onboard them is we picked up this term called digital plumbing from Dennis Hugh, fantastic person if you want to follow him on social media, he’s like an SEO guru.
But digital plumbing is showing how all the pipes are connected to your business. And then how all that weighs in on the authority you have period across the internet. If, you’re the owner of a company, do you want to be, do you want to be known for your name? Do you want to be known for the service?
If it’s the company that you want to be known for, then you have to make sure that all the digital pipes, all the items are pointed to your company, social media, Wikipedia, Reddit all these items that you can actually be using to make sure your company is known. You need to be connected on there in some way, shape, or form.
Now, obviously we all have a certain amount of bandwidth that we have per day. So we can’t be everywhere that we want to be, but you can do the basics day in and day out. Everybody knows how to post on, Facebook. Everybody knows how to post on a, most of the time on, on, on LinkedIn or Twitter. Those ones are going to be, or X now, it’s now known as X, sorry.
Those are going to be the bigger ones that are going to help propel you. And then once you get into the nitty gritty of posting YouTube videos, TikTok videos making sure that the data on your website is accurate and posted on there on a regular basis it’s all going to start connecting and the water will flow.
I’ll let you do a funnel flow into your website for leads. You re reiterated a point that I made earlier that it’s, you need to start by posting on some of these, but it, they all work together and, Google’s the one that’s connecting them. They, as Jeremy said, the plumbing system. So it’s important to, to be posting on each available platform ’cause connecting a lot of things that Jeremy has mentioned throughout our conversation today.
Is first most, it’s free. All these different platforms that you can be posting on, it’s free. As long as you take the time to, to dedicate this out of your day you won’t be having any extra charters whatsoever. And the more you can post on each platform, so posting on your website, posting on your Google business profile, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok YouTube Shorts, so on and so on the more, as Jeremy said, you’re building that plumbing that Google Can go through and be connecting your business across the internet.
As it’s connecting it and it’s seeing more and more of your business pop up, they are going to favor you in the rankings, just because you’re building that authority. They’re seeing you in so many different places. It’s you’re showing. You’re showing respect for those potential clients and homeowners, but you’re showing Google that respect too.
It’s just Hey, I’m not just, I’m not just a small here, like doing nothing. It’s just the more you’re posting, the more Google can see you and the more they respect you and will favor you. Because of that, I I’m also going to push that there’s the old adage that something is better than nothing.
And I think that as long as it’s relevant to your business, it’s going to be true. So it doesn’t have to be an award winning graphic. It doesn’t have to be an award winning blog. Just putting something out there is going to help your business in one, in some way, shape, or form. That, so don’t be afraid is what I’m trying to say is.
You, you bring value with the services you provide and it’s okay to show that’s okay. It’s okay to show the value that you bring. And hopefully through what we’re saying we’re, telling them why we’re showing some reasons how you can get started. And so hopefully this conversation is help lighting the fire to get business owners ready and committed to make time throughout their days to be taking pictures, taking videos to post on their social media.
But some of them, Jeremy, some of them right now. You might have that fire lit under them. They’re like, okay, so let’s do it. Now I need some help with the strategy. I guess the first thing that I can think of when it comes to strategy is just cross, cross posting across all those platforms. So let’s say a photo is the easiest one.
You can post a photo on your Google business profile. You post the same photo out onto your Facebook, Instagram, and so on. The easiest one also, that we do in our own company. Is that really helps is Jeremy likes to call Google juice, Google to build your authority is your blog posting. So when you post on your website, you post on your blog, just make sure to not just leave it there because that is just sitting on your website and it helps your website.
Don’t get me wrong. You did something so first pat yourself on the back. You did it, but now let’s take the next step. Take the link to that blog and be posting it on to Google. Okay. So now you’re linking Google sees it on Google business profile and are now sending people to that blog because they now see it on your Google business profile.
Okay. So now let’s also post it to Facebook. Now Facebook is seeing that same blog and you post the link to your blog. So now Facebook sending people to that same blog in Google will also recognize that it’s on Facebook and it’s connecting all these dots. So if you could post on your LinkedIn it’s so on and so forth maybe you do the blog and take a video of yourself speaking about that, that blog that you can post on to tick tock that you can post on to YouTube.
It’s all connecting these dots. And so just because there’s so much out there, does it mean that you need to be creating all this different content? You can just be cross. Cross posting them and connecting them as well. Now, there is an argument that I’m sure Jeremy’s kind of thinking about that there’s different audiences on each platform and we can get into that.
But this is just a starting point. This is just a starting strategy to start with your content. Because obviously the people, viewing your content on Facebook are going to be different than the people that are viewing it on, TikTok and YouTube and whatnot. There is an argument to say that you shouldn’t be making some different, differing content tailored to the audiences on those platforms, but at least to start, the strategy would be best to cross platform, so you’re at least getting content to all those different platforms.
Jeremy, do you have any thoughts on that? I do. A lot of it, a lot of times people forget that social media has a very short lifespan, meaning… If I post something on Facebook today, there’s a really good chance that somebody goes back onto my wall. It’ll disappear from their feed forever in a matter of days, right?
I can take one piece of content and I can post it on social media multiple times. And every time that I do it, a different audience is going to see it. So I’m thinking about this. If you had that same question once a month, what would happen if you actually started posting that, that same blog, that same answer once a month to your social feeds?
Yeah. Some people are going to see it. They’re like, didn’t you just post this? Fantastic. You have a Raven fan. I love it. But a lot of times it’s going to be the first time somebody sees it and you’re going to be the admin professional and you can get so much, usage out of that one blog over and over again to, to me, it makes sense just to create that library and, post everything on your website multiple times a year, even if it might be something that you feel that is going to be, you posted last month, I guarantee that question that you were asked.
It’s going to be asked again by a homeowner. No, most definitely. And as I said, don’t be afraid to show some personality when you’re posting too. So let’s say you, you launch a new blog onto your website and you’re posting it onto Facebook, you’re posting out of Google. I just announced a new blog. You should check this out.
It’s it’ll help you winterize your house or get your house ready for colder weather and then a week later jeremy said when you’re reposted again I show some personality and it’d be like oh if you haven’t seen this blog If you haven’t seen this blog that we posted last week, here’s the link again It can really help you start to prep your home.
So you can always just take the same content like just like jeremy’s saying and just Twist it a little bit, like if you’re comfortable and show your personality on videos, through your text, through what you’re typing and whatnot because people, want to relate and show emotion and they wanna, they don’t want to just look at you as a business, they want to look at you as a person, or as people that are in that business as well.
I think that’s been just such a, an older tradition that really in the modern era has shifted. That people, are done on the days where they just want to see a nice polished style of, content, like old commercials that we used to see that it makes it look like that, business is perfect and everything, suit, tie, and the kit and caboodle.
But today’s the day where people want to connect with people. They want to see your personality. They want to see who you really are. So don’t be afraid to share your, show your personality. When you’re creating this content to be posting out because people want to see it because they want to connect with you as well.
As I say, yeah. Yeah. So I think we should address the elephant in the room. Writer’s block is real. Content creation block is real. Mike, what is your suggestion for a home service industry that doesn’t know where to start? Where should they? Even start thinking of ideas if it’s not the questions that are asked from on a regular basis, okay for sure So the two biggest things the two biggest things that I would say is what Jeremy?
Hinted at earlier. I miss him or just right there is some of those FAQs I talked about earlier and let’s say you maybe you’ve used up all the ones that you’ve had Just type in if you’re an electrician Just type in one of those frequently asked questions that you’ve already said, or maybe just even type in electricians into Google.
If you scroll down a little bit there’s always a section on searches that say people also ask. And so maybe you haven’t heard some of these questions yet. But those are questions that people are typing into Google and they’re asking in Google. So you can start answering those questions from the people also ask section on Google in your own content.
So that’s a starting point to start continuing to do that. It’s it’s like a a tree roots. Once you click one, start answering that one, it’ll give you more. It’ll give you more. And you can keep going down that rabbit hole and using that as, topic and ideas for your content and so on.
And that’s a great way to get some content ideas. Now the other option I would suggest is also AI. And what I mean by that is using AI. To create the topics but you can also help AI write the topics as well. Just working with it, teaching it. As I always say in every podcast, make sure that you reread it.
Make sure that it’s maybe your voice is showing through in that. But AI is a great starting point to, to continue to move. Move your content along, especially if you have a writer’s block, Jeremy, I saw you give a huge thumbs up when I brought up AI I was working, to it. I was working to it.
So what would you have to add to the AI conversation of how people could be using it for content? Yeah, I think one of the easiest tricks is to go to Google BARD. So if you haven’t heard of Google BARD is Google’s answer to AI. And they’re connected with all the data that Google has.
So keep that in mind. But get industry specific. And then also I know specific on the things that you do for your clients and then approach it in different ways. So if I was a plumber, I’d actually go to Google bar and I’d say, what are the top 10 questions homeowners ask plumbers? Boom, 10 blog ideas that I’d go in.
I was specific. What are the top 10 questions people ask plumbers about toilets? Boom, you’re going to get 10 questions about toilets. Kitchen sinks, bathrooms, hot water heaters, drain issues, sprinklers. I probably just gave you 50 different ideas you can blog about, which is more than you’re worth of content to continue to go down.
No it, as I said, it’s, even if it’s simply, because a lot of writer’s block can just be sparked or, help encourage you just by seeing some other things outside of the box that you haven’t thought yet. And then that can help spark even your own mind. Once again, just start thinking of other things that might not have seen just sometimes when you hit that writer’s block, you just need, a conversation with someone or as you said, like as Jeremy was saying, having a conversation with the AI to start sparking, seeing some ideas you haven’t thought of yet.
And that I know for a fact would help your mind to continue to grow too, because even professional authors, every single person hits writer’s block at some point. So make sure you’re using the tools that we have, like AI, like Google barred. To continue to get past that writer’s block as well. Say Jeremy, I don’t we’ve we’ve talked a lot, we’ve talked.
But why people should be doing it, maybe some strategies I guess we can always end with you, you touched on it earlier about what people could be missing, but maybe some specific, some specifics what are some things that people could be missing out on if they are adding content creation to their weekly schedule?
A lot of potential revenue. That, that’s me, my answer to that question, because. Every opportunity to be in front of people, as long as you’re relevant to your services is a good opportunity in front of people. So what’s it costing you not to do it? A lot of revenue, a lot of revenue. And if you’re not taking that opportunity, you’re giving, you’re allowing your competitors to give them that opportunity.
And so if you’re not being the one in your local community, making these videos, making this content for people in your community to see. You’re giving that to someone else that as soon as they start clicking and they get the urge to do it. They can beat you out on, and then that would really give you the fire to start doing it, but you’ll already be one step behind your local competitors.
So make sure you jump in front of this because you don’t want to be handing phone calls and leads to your competitors by missing out on it. Not, to circle back to Nike, but she has to do it. Oh, I was going to say the reason they made a lot of money off of that campaign because of this, people just need to take the step and start doing it.
But as I say, it’s always a pleasure to say it’s always a pleasure discussing with you, Jeremy. And I always love ending our podcast to really emphasize that we want to hear your guys’s voice. Jeremy and I love having these conversations about marketing tips and tricks to help you guys out.
But we also want to hear your stories on this podcast. And so if you’re seeing this and you have some experience in your own industry, whether you’re a plumber, whether you’re a roofer, whether you’re a painter, whether you’re a landscaper and so on. We want to hear your experiences.
We want to hear your stories so people can listen to this, interact with it and learn from your stories as well, because we want to continue to build a community around this. Jeremy, as I say, do you have any parting words? No I, something is better than nothing. So just, start. Nope. Exactly.
I was gonna say, it’s always a pleasure. And as I said, you can always see this podcast every Friday, so we hope everybody has a good one. Cheers.
